Power Memorial
started a basketball program in the late 1930s, winning All-City championships in 1937 and 1941; and the Metropolitan Championship
in 1942. Over its history, it won a total of eight New York City Catholic High Athletic Association (CHSAA) championships).

In 1961, 6 ft 10 in (2.1 m) freshman
Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) joined the basketball team. Alcindor led the
team to 27 consecutive victories and the 1963 CHSAA championship. The winning streak continued as the team went undefeated
and won the CHSAA in 1964. The streak finally ended at 71 games on January 30, 1965 when DeMatha High School of Hyattsville,
Maryland defeated Power, 46-43. That was the only loss in Alcindor's high school career (116-1)). The
1963-64 team was named "The #1 High School Team of The Century" by National Sports Writers[6] and was inducted into the CHSAA
Hall of Fame as the team of the century.

Power Memorial continued to be known
as a basketball powerhouse, although it never repeated the total dominance of the early 1960s. All-Americans Len Elmore, Ed
Searcy and Jap Trimble were on the 1970 team that won the CHSAA and was named "Number 1 Team in the Country". Mario Elie played
and Chris Mullin also played at Power in the late 1970s, although Mullin later transferred to Xaverian High School.

Heavily sought by collegiate basketball programs, he played for the UCLA Bruins from 1966 to 1969 under coach John Wooden, contributing to the team's three-year record of 88 wins and only two losses,
one to Houston (see below) and the other to crosstown rival USC who played a "stall game" (i.e., there was no shot clock,
so a team could exploit the rules by, basically, holding the ball as long as it wanted before attempting to score). During
his college career he was twice named Player of the Year (1967, 1969), was a three-time First Team All-American (1967-69),
played on three NCAA Basketball champion teams (1967, 1968, 1969), was honored as the Most Outstanding Player
in the NCAA Tournament (1967, 1968, 1969), and became the first-ever Naismith College Player of the Year in 1969. In 1967, 1968 he also won USBWA College Player of the Year which later became the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Note: Freshmen were not eligible to play, so Alcindor only had 3 years to play,
not four. The 1965-1966 UCLA Bruin team was the preseason #1. But on November 27 1965, the freshmen team led by Alcindor defeated
the varsity team 75-60 in the first game in the new Pauley Pavilion.[4] This defeat had no effect on the varsity's national ranking. It was still number one the following week.

When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left the game in 1989 at age 42, no
NBA player had ever scored more points, blocked more shots, won more MVP awards, played in more All-Star Games, or logged
more seasons. His list of personal and team accomplishments is perhaps the most awesome in league history: Rookie of the Year,
member of six NBA championship teams, six-time NBA MVP, two-time NBA Finals MVP, 19-time All-Star, two-time scoring champ,
and a member of the NBA 35th and 50th Anniversary All-Time Teams.